1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a battery and equipment or device having the battery as part of its structure, and a locally-distributed power generation method and a power generation device therefor. More particularly, the present invention relates to a battery of a three-dimensional structure comprising powdered active materials and capable of storing a large power, and equipment or device having the battery as part of its structure, an alkali primary battery and an alkali secondary battery of long lives in which discharge voltages are less likely to be reduced, and a locally-distributed power generation method which utilizes a power of transfer and transport means such as a power-driven two-wheeled vehicle, a power-driven three-wheeled vehicle, a power-driven four-wheeled vehicle, ship, or the like and a power generation device therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present invention relates to a battery. In view of the prior arts, objectives to be achieved by the present invention are broadly classified into five objectives as follows.
The first objective is to provide a battery which obviates drawbacks of the conventional battery having a structure in which a plate-shaped, solid-cylindrical, or hollow-cylindrical active material that has a certain volume is immersed in an electrolytic solution. The second objective is to provide a three-dimensional battery of a large power capacity which has been unfulfilled in the conventional battery. The third objective is to provide practical use of the battery of the three-dimensional structure as means for achieving the first or second objective. The fourth objective is to provide an alkali primary battery or an alkali secondary battery of long lives in which discharge voltages are less likely to be reduced. The fifth objective is to provide a locally-distributed power generation method utilizing the battery of the three-dimensional structure and a power generation device therefor. Hereinbelow, the first to fifth objectives will be described according to comparison with the prior arts.
Conventionally, the battery is structured such that the plate-shaped, the solid-cylindrical, or the hollow-cylindrical active material is immersed in the electrolytic solution. The battery has a layered structure with an electrolytic plate sandwiched between a cathode and an anode.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei. 7-169513 discloses a method and device that thermally or chemically recovers a battery material after discharge to continuously generate a power by utilizing a combustion heat of a fossil fuel.
However, the conventional battery has the following problems.
(1) Scale up is Impossible.
A current flowing in a battery is directly proportional to an area of a membrane. For example, in case of the battery having a membrane area of 1 m2 and a power of 1W, an area of one billion m2 is required to obtain one million kW. This corresponds to a square of approximately 32 kilometer square, and cannot be formed into a flange. Even if the number of membranes is increased as a solution to this, the scale up is unfulfilled.
(2) Degradation of Active Materials or a Catalyst Cannot be Dealt with.
In the conventional battery, since the active materials and the catalyst are used as components of the battery, the entire battery must be replaced when degraded. In actuality, the replacement is impossible and the degraded battery is discarded.
(3) A Heat Transmitter for Heat Generation and Heat Absorption in Association with Charge and Discharge Cannot be Provided.
In view of a battery characteristic in which exothermic reaction or endothermic reaction is conducted in association with charge and discharge of the battery, a power conversion efficiency is reduced with an increase in temperature and a reaction speed decreases with a decrease in temperature, it is necessary to provide a heat transmitter in the battery for adjustment so as to obtain appropriate temperature. However, since the conventional battery is complex in structure, the heat transmitter is not provided. Besides, since the battery is small and a battery surface area with respect to its output is small, it is naturally cooled or heat-absorbed. In some cases, the upper limit temperature is set by using a temperature fuse but any temperature control device is not provided for the battery.
(4) An Energy Density is low.
In the conventional battery, the current is directly proportional to the area of the membrane. For example, in case of the battery having a membrane area of 1 m2 and a power of 1W, one million membrane batteries each having a membrane area of 1 m2 and a width of 0.1 m are required and therefore have a volume of 100000 m3 to create a battery of 1000 kW. Consequently, the energy density cannot be increased.
The first invention has been developed in view of the above-described problems, and the first objective to be achieved by the first invention is to provide a battery comprising powdered active materials in vessels, in which scale up can be achieved, degraded active materials and catalyst can be recovered and replaced, the heat transmitter can be provided in the battery, and the energy density can be increased.
Conventionally, the battery is structured such that the active materials are formed to have a predetermined shape such as a solid cylinder or a hollow cylinder and immersed in the electrolytic solution, and the electrolyte plate is sandwiched between a cathode and an anode to have a layered structure.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 49, a nickel hydrogen battery is layered by adhering a current collector 431, a cathode 432, a separator 433, an anode 434, and a current collector 435 in this order. This example is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei. 9-298067. The battery disclosed in this publication is structured such that a plurality of element batteries (unit batteries) each comprising a cathode mainly composed of nickel hydroxide, an anode mainly composed of hydrogen-occluding alloy, a separator formed of a polymer non-woven fabric cloth, and an electrolytic solution composed of an alkali aqueous solution, are connected in series and stored in a metallic square vessel and an opening thereof is sealed by a sealing plate having a reversible vent.
The conventional battery 430 has a membrane structure (two dimensional), including the above-described structure. To obtain the battery 430 of a large capacity, it is extended to make it thinner as shown in FIG. 40 or wound, or the unit batteries 430 are connected in parallel as shown in FIG. 41. Or otherwise, as shown in FIG. 52, a plurality of electrode plates 436 are interposed in a number of unit batteries 430 and wirings 437 connected to the respective electrode plates 436 are pulled out of the batteries to allow these electrodes to be connected to electrode plates 438 of another unit batteries that have different polarity, thereby obtaining a layered structure.
However, the conventional batteries of FIGS. 49-52, the following problems arise.
(1) Scale up is Limited.
The conventional battery has a membrane structure (two-dimensional), and the current flowing in the battery is directly proportional to the area of the membrane. Therefore, for example, if 1W power is generated in 1 m2 area, then (100xc3x97100)m2 area is required to generate 10 kW power. Accordingly, the number of membranes may be increased or the membrane may be enlarged and wound. In either case, the battery becomes extremely large and is difficult to practice. Consequently, the batteries must be connected in parallel, and thereby, the whole structure becomes complex.
(2) A Production Cost of a Battery is Extremely High Due to a Large Capacity.
In case of the battery of the membrane structure, if an attempt is made to obtain the large capacity, the area of the membrane must be correspondingly increased, and the production cost becomes higher with an increase in the battery capacity. For this reason, the scale up results in no advantage in production cost.
(3) Degradation of the Battery Cannot be Dealt with.
Since the active materials have a fixed shape such as the plate or cylinder as components of the battery, the whole battery must be replaced when these materials are degraded, because it is impossible to replace only the active materials.
(4) When the batteries are connected in series, a device cost is high and a resistance energy loss in a connected portion is large. For example, when a plurality of batteries of 1.6V-2.0V per battery are connected to obtain a voltage as high as 100V, they must be connected by means of wirings. The working cost therefore becomes high and the loss of heat generated due to the current passing through the connected portion causes an energy loss.
The second invention has been developed in view of the above-described problems. The second objective to be achieved by the second invention is to provide a layered-type three-dimensional battery that is three-dimensionally structured to allow a capacity of the battery to be increased by increasing a volume (cell) of the battery and gives a number of advantages associated with scale up.
In general, in various equipment or devices, spaces therein are not efficiently utilized, as described in embodiments below.
Accordingly, the third objective to be achieved by the third invention is to provide practical and effective use of the three-dimensional battery in which the battery of the three-dimensional structure according to the first or second invention constitutes part of the various equipment or devices.
The practical battery can be broadly classified into a primary battery incapable of repeating charge/discharge, a secondary battery capable of repeating charge/discharge, a special battery comprising a physical battery (for example, solar battery) and a biological battery (for example, enzyme battery), and a fuel battery.
The fourth objective is to obviate drawbacks of the alkali primary battery and the alkali secondary battery among these practical batteries.
The battery is composed of an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte as three main components. During discharge, the anode discharges an electron to an external circuit by an electrochemical reaction and the anode itself is oxidized, while the cathode receives the electron from the external circuit by the electrochemical reaction and the cathode itself is reduced, and the electrolyte serves as an ion transmission medium between the anode and the cathode in the electrochemical reaction because it is ion-transmissible. Thus, the oxidation occurs in the anode and the reduction occurs in the cathode during discharge, and reduced materials (non-oxidized materials) such as hydrogen-occluding alloy, cadmium, iron, zinc, lead, and the like are used as anode materials and oxidized materials are used as cathode materials.
For example, an alkali manganese battery as a type of the alkali primary battery generally uses manganese dioxides and carbon as cathode active materials, zinc as an anode active material, and a potassium hydroxide solution or a sodium hydroxide solution as an electrolytic solution. In this alkali manganese battery, the reaction progresses as follows:
Zn+4OHxe2x88x92xe2x86x92Zn(OH)42xe2x88x92+2exe2x88x92xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(Anode)
MnO2+H2O+exe2x88x92xe2x86x92MnOOH+OHxe2x88x92xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(Cathode)
A nickel-cadmium accumulator battery as a typical alkali secondary battery generally uses nickel hydroxide and carbon as the cathode active material, cadmium as the anode active material, and a potassium hydroxide solution as the electrolytic solution. In the nickel-cadmium accumulator battery, the reaction progresses as follows:
Cd+2OHxe2x88x92⇄Cd(OH)2+2exe2x88x92xe2x80x83xe2x80x83[Anode]
NiOOH+H2O+exe2x88x92⇄Ni(OH)2+OHxe2x88x92xe2x80x83xe2x80x83[Cathode]
Cd+2NiOOH+2H2O⇄2Ni(OH)2+Cd(OH)2xe2x80x83xe2x80x83[Whole Battery]
In the above reaction formula, an arrow pointing right indicates a discharge reaction and an arrow pointing left indicates a charge reaction. As can be seen from the formula, the discharge reaction in the anode produces hydroxide such as zinc hydroxide or cadmium hydroxide. It is important that the electrodes have a certain mechanical strength or are corrosion-resistant in a potential region and it is particularly important that the electrodes have superior conductivity.
Since metal oxide or metal hydroxide have generally high specific resistance and low conductivity, a mixture of conductive materials such as carbon, zinc, and cobalt as conduction promoter is conventionally used as cathode materials comprising metal oxides. However, since a metal is used to promote the oxidation as the anode active material, the discharge causes the metal to be chemically changed into a metal oxide or a metal hydroxide, thereby resulting in reduced conductivity. Accordingly, to increase the conductivity, there has been proposed use of a pellet material in which a conductivity material such as powdered carbon, powdered nickel, or powdered cobalt is mixed into the metal such as zinc as the anode active material, or use of an anode current collector comprising a metal such as zinc to which the conductivity material is pressed to be strongly stuck.
However, the above-described pressure-application process or granulating process for obtaining the pellet material is complex and increases the production cost.
The fourth invention has been developed in view of the above problems and the fourth objective to be achieved by the fourth invention is to provide an alkali primary battery and an alkali secondary battery that show a preferable discharging characteristic during discharge (in which a discharge voltage is less likely to be reduced), have long lives, and low production cost.
The conventional locally-distributed power generation equipment is a fixed-type cogeneration equipment for generating warm air, cool air, warm water, and steam by using heat energy generated secondarily by power generation and supplying a steam energy and a heat energy. Also, in the locally-distributed cogeneration equipment, solar power generation, wind power generation, or the like is utilized.
As the prior art, it is known that a solar battery installed in a house is utilized to charge a battery of an electric automobile.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei. 6-225406 discloses a technique for charging a battery of an electric automobile by using a commercial power supply and a fuel battery power generation equipment systematically operated with the power supply.
To generalize the locally-distributed cogeneration equipment, it is necessary to install power generation equipment in houses or offices. However, the power generation equipment is expensive and requires a long time period to obtain an economic effect due to difference between a purchasing price of the power generation equipment and a price of power when purchased as the home power generation equipment. Thus, since the power generation equipment for houses and offices has a high equipment cost and is unpayable unless it is used for a long time period, it is difficult to generalize the locally-distributed cogeneration equipment. To facilitate the generalization of the solar power generation, the state tried to pay half of the equipment cost, which was economically unsuccessful, and a great deal of budget was surplus.
The fifth invention has been developed in view of the above-described problems, and the fifth objective to be achieved by the fifth invention is to provide a locally-distributed power generation method capable of utilizing a power generation system installed in automobile or the like originally used as transfer and transport means for houses and offices instead of installing only the fixed-type power generation equipment for houses or offices, to allow transport equipment and private power generation equipment to be utilized as common equipment, thereby significantly reducing the equipment cost, and capable of performing the cogeneration without the power generation equipment in houses or offices.
A technique of utilizing the fixed-type power generation equipment such as the solar power generation for charging the transfer and transport means such as automobiles is known but a technique of utilizing a power generated by the transfer and transport means such as automobile for the fixed-type power generation equipment for houses or the like is not known.
To achieve the first objective, there is provided a battery of the first invention comprising two vessels connected with a member interposed therebetween that permits passage of an ion but does not permit passage of an electron, a powdered active material filled in one of the vessels and suspended in an electrolytic solution in the one vessel to discharge the electron, and a powdered active material filled in the other vessel and suspended in an electrolytic solution in the other vessel to absorb the electron, wherein conductive current collectors in contact with the powdered active materials are provided in the two vessels (see FIG. 1).
It is preferable that in the battery of the first invention, at least one of fluid fluidizing and dispersing means and agitating means using a liquid or a gas for fluidizing the powdered active materials in the electrolytic solutions in the two vessels would be connected to the two vessels or provided in the two vessels to provide efficient contact between the powdered active materials and between the powdered active materials and the current collectors (see FIGS. 2 to 12), as mentioned later.
In the battery of the first invention, current collectors in contact with the powdered active materials may have a shape of one of a bar, a plate and a tube (see FIGS. 1 to 4).
In the battery of the first invention, the current collectors in contact with the powdered active materials may serve as at least one of the fluid fluidizing and dispersing means and the agitating means using the liquid or the gas for fluidizing the powdered active materials in the vessels (see FIGS. 5, 6).
It is preferable that in the battery of the first invention, heat transmitters would be provided in the two vessels to keep reaction temperature in the battery constant as mentioned later. The heat transmitters may be one of tubular current collectors and plate-shaped current collectors in contact with the powdered active materials (see FIGS. 8, 9).
It is preferable that in the battery of the first invention, means for discharging degraded powdered active materials out of the two vessels and means for supplying the powdered active materials into the vessels would be connected to the two vessels (see FIGS. 10, 11) as mentioned later.
In this case, at least one of means for recovering discharged powdered active materials and means for making up the powdered active materials may be connected to the discharging means, to supply the recovered or made-up powdered active materials into the vessels from the supplying means (see FIG. 10).
Also, reaction means for charging the discharged powdered active materials by thermal reaction or chemical reaction may be connected to the discharging means, to supply the charged powdered active materials into the vessels from the supplying means (see FIG. 11)
In the battery of the first invention, the powdered active material on an anode side may be powdered hydrogen-occluding alloy and the powdered active material on a cathode side may be powdered nickel hydroxide (see FIG. 7).
Also, in the battery of the first invention, the powdered active material on the anode side may be powdered hydrogen-occluding alloy, the gas introduced into the fluid fluidizing and dispersing means on the anode side may be hydrogen, the powdered active material on a cathode side may be powdered nickel hydroxide, and the gas introduced into the fluid fluidizing and dispersing means on the cathode side may be oxygen or air (see FIG. 12). The battery of the first invention has a charging/discharging characteristic better than that of the conventional battery without fluidizing the powdered active materials or without equipment for fluidizing the powdered active materials. The specific effects will be described in detail in embodiments of the invention mentioned later. The improvements thereof are as follows:
(1) Scale up is Achieved.
The current flowing through the battery is directly proportional to the surface area of a reacting material. Accordingly, by using the powdered active materials, the battery comprising the powdered materials in the vessels can be created. The battery is three-dimensionally structured by using the powdered active materials. For example, in case of the battery having a volume of 1 liter and a power of 1W, if it is scaled up to 1 m3, 10 m3, and 100 m3, the corresponding powers are respectively 1 kW, 1000 kW, and 1 million kW.
In addition, when the powdered active materials are used to create the battery, scale up becomes advantageous. For example, if the conventional battery of 1 kW costs 100 thousand yen (831.19 dollars), then, one million batteries are required to obtain 1 million kW and costs 100 billion yen (831,186,100.00 dollars). On the other hand, in the battery of the present invention the scale up results in advantages, i.e., a reduced production cots of about 100 million yen (831,186.10 dollars).
(2) The Degraded Active Material and Catalyst can be Recovered and Replaced.
When the powdered active materials and catalyst are degraded, they are discharged, and recovered or replaced by new active materials and catalyst, or otherwise, they are re-charged by thermal reaction or chemical reaction, to be re-supplied. For example, the powder ed active material and catalyst are discharged as a slurry together with the electrolytic solution through a pipe from the vessel. Then, the powdered active material is separated from the electrolytic solution and re-mixed with the electrolytic solution after recovery or addition of new materials, to be created into the slurry, which is supplied to the battery by a slurry pump.
For example, the conventional small-sized battery is capable of charging and discharging about 500 times, and the conventional large-sized battery is activated for about 8000 consecutive hours. On the other hand, since in the battery of the present invention, the active material and the catalyst are kept in best conditions by circulation and recovery or make up of the active material and catalyst, the life of the battery, and hence, the life of the battery equipment can be prolonged 50 to 100 times.
(3) Heat Transmitters can be Provided in the Battery.
The battery has a simple structure in which the powdered active material and catalyst are suspended in the electrolytic solution. By utilized battery characteristic in which a heat transmitter is easy to provide therein, heat transmitted through the heat transmitter provided in the battery can keep reaction temperature in the battery constant, and power conversion efficiency is reduced with an increase in temperature, whereas reaction speed is reduced with a decrease in temperature, the temperature in the battery can be appropriately adjusted. Besides, since high-temperature substances and low-temperature substances collected through the heat transmitter can be utilized for air-conditioning or power generation, energy generation efficiency and energy usage efficiency can be increased.
(4) Energy Density can be Increased.
The current flowing through the battery is directly proportional to the surface area of the reaction material. Accordingly, the powdered active materials are used to create the battery. The creation of the battery using the powdered active materials increases the surface area. For example, the powdered material of 1 m3 has a surface area of 300000 m2 and has an increased energy density. Also, if the conventional battery has a membrane area of 1 m2 and a power of 1W, then 3 million membrane batteries each having an area of 1 m2 and a width of 0.1 m are required to create a battery of 3000 kW and has a volume of 300000 m3. If the battery of the present invention uses a powdered material having a particle diameter of 1 xcexcm to obtain the same power, then it has a volume of about 10 m3 and has an energy density made 30000 times higher. Thus, the energy density can be significantly increased.
To achieve the second objective, there is provided a three-dimensional battery of a layered type of the second invention, comprising plural pairs of unit batteries each comprising a pair of cells (vessels) connected with a member interposed therebetween that permits passage of an ion but does not permit passage of an electron, a powdered active material put in and suspended in an electrolytic solution filled in one of the cells (vessels) to discharge an electron, and a powdered active material put y and suspended in an electrolytic solution filled in the other cell (vessel) to absorb the electron, the plural pairs of batteries being integrally connected in series with conductive current collecting members placed so as to define separating walls of the respective cells and be in contact with the powdered active materials, wherein the cells on opposite sides are provided with current collectors that are in contact with the powdered active materials and respectively function as a cathode and an anode.
In the three-dimensional battery of the second invention having the above-described structure, the capacity (power) of the battery can be increased by increasing capacities of the respective cells of the pair of cells. Assuming that a capacity of 1 liter generates a power of 1W then power of 1 kW can be obtained by increasing the capacity to 1 m3 and a power of 10 kW can be obtained by increasing the capacity to 10 m3. The scale up results in advantages in the production cost. Specifically, if the conventional battery of 10W costs 10 thousand yen (83.12 dollars), then the battery of 10 kW costs 10 million yen (83.118.61 dollars). On the other hand, since the production cost of the battery of the present invention is reduced with the scale up, the battery cost of the present invention of about 1 million yen (8,311.86 dollars) equals about {fraction (1/10)} of the conventional battery.
On the other hand, the voltage is determined depending on the type of powdered active materials (corresponding to the conventional general electrodes) filled in the pair of cells. For example, when powdered metallic lead and powdered lead oxide are used, approximately 2.4V voltage is generated. So, it is necessary to connect 5 to 6 unit batteries in series to obtain 12V or more. However, according to the second invention, unit batteries situated at intermediate position (except opposite end positions) can use current collecting members made of the same material on the anode side and on the cathode side. Since the cathode and anode electrodes need not be provided differently from the conventional battery, separating walls defining a pair of cells (unit battery) are constituted by conductive current collecting members to enable structural and electrical series connection. The separating wall is configured to have a considerably small thickness (e.g., 0.5 mm) and a large area (e.g., 127 mmxc3x97127 mm). In addition, the current flows in the thickness direction of the separating wall. Therefore, a large current flows with little resistance and a power loss is very little. Further, since the two pairs of unit batteries can be directly connected by means of the separating walls, plural pairs of unit batteries can be connected in series and in layers. Thereby, the whole battery is configured to have a minimum capacity and made small.
Furthermore, in the three-dimensional battery of the second invention, the powdered active materials function as a membrane (battery body) of the conventional battery of a membrane structure and the current flowing through the battery is directly proportional to the surface area of the active materials. Since the powdered active materials are suspended in the electrolytic solution and occupy most of the volume of the battery casing, the energy density can be greatly increased. Also, since the powdered active materials are put into the electrolytic solution (dilute sulfuric acid for lead storage battery), and are mixed and suspended therein, the powdered active materials are separated from the electrolytic solutions or replaced together with the electrolytic solutions for recovery when degraded. The life of the battery can be significantly (approximately 50 to 100 times) prolonged.
It is preferable in the three-dimensional battery of the second invention, that agitating means would be provided in each of the cells to fluidize the powdered active material suspended in the electrolytic solution when a large power is required. The agitating means includes means for mechanically agitating the powdered active materials using a rotational shaft with agitating vanes that is rotatably provided in the cells by a drive unit such as a motor or means for dispersing and fluidizing the powdered materials in the electrolytic solution by supplying or circulating a liquid or a gas into the electrolytic solution by means of a pump or a blower. In the three-dimensional battery, the agitating means agitates the powdered material in the electrolytic solution to be dispersed therein, thereby improving efficiency of contact between the active materials, reducing contact resistance because of preferable contact between the powdered materials and the current collecting members or the current collectors, increasing conductivity, and increasing ion dispersion speed in the electrolytic solution. Consequently, a large current flows and a large power can be obtained. In addition, a width of each cell (spacing in a series direction) can be increased and the capacity of the battery can be increased.
In the three-dimensional battery of the second invention, conductive studs may be provided integrally with and protrusively from the current collecting members or the current collectors toward inside of the respective cells. In this three-dimensional battery, since contact areas between the current collecting members or the current collectors and the powdered materials are greatly increased, and the contact resistance is reduced, the width of each cell (spacing in the series direction) can be enlarged, and the capacity of the battery can be greatly increased.
It is preferable that in the three-dimensional battery of the second invention, a function for stopping fluidization of the powdered active material to reduce amount of a power supplied from the battery would be added to the agitating means. By addition of the function to stop fluidization of the powdered materials to the agitating means like this three-dimensional battery, the fluidization of the powdered materials can be arbitrarily stopped, and, consequently, the amount of a power from the battery can be reduced.
It is preferable that in the three-dimensional battery, the powdered active material that discharges the electron would be hydrogen-occluding alloy, cadmium, iron, zinc or lead, because these materials are inexpensive and practicable. Further, it is preferable that in the three-dimensional battery of the second invention, the active material that absorbs the electron would be nickel oxyhydroxide, lead dioxide, or manganese dioxide, because these materials are inexpensive and practical.
To achieve the third objective, there is provided equipment or device of the third invention, having a battery of a three-dimensional structure as part of its structure, the battery comprising two vessels connected with a member interposed therebetween that permits passage of an ion but does not permit passage of an electron, a powdered active material filled in one of the vessels and suspended in an electrolytic solution in the one vessel to discharge the electron, and a powdered active material filled in the other vessel and suspended in an electrolytic solution in the other vessel to absorb the electron, wherein conductive current collectors in contact with the powdered active materials are provided in the two vessels, the equipment or device having a function of chargeable/dischargeable power storage equipment.
The equipment or device to which the third invention is applicable may include rotary equipment using the power stored in the three-dimensional battery as a power source, a mobile body using the power stored in the three-dimensional battery as the power source, power conveying means for supplying the power stored in the three-dimensional battery to another equipment, and equipment for converting the power stored in the three-dimensional battery into photo energy, kinetic energy, or heat energy. These equipment or device will be described in the embodiment described later.
It is preferable that in the equipment or device of the third invention, at least one of fluid fluidizing and dispersing means and agitating means using a liquid or a gas for fluidizing the powdered active materials suspended in the electrolytic solutions in the two vessels would be connected to the two vessels or provided in the two vessels. With the fluid fluidizing and dispersing means or the agitating means, efficiency of contact between the active materials is improved, contact resistance is reduced because of preferable contact between the powdered active materials and the current collectors, conductivity is improved, and an ion dispersion speed in the electrolytic solution is increased. Consequently, a large current flows and a large power can be stored.
It is preferable that in the third invention the powdered active material that discharges the electron would be hydrogen-occluding alloy, cadmium, iron, zinc or lead, because these materials are inexpensive and practical. Also, it is preferable that in the third invention, the active material that absorbs the electron would be nickel oxyhydroxide, lead dioxide, or manganese dioxide, because these materials are inexpensive and practical. Further, it is preferable that in the third invention, the electrolytic solution would be a potassium hydroxide solution, sodium hydroxide solution, or dilute sulfuric acid, because these solutions are inexpensive and practical.
To achieve the fourth objective, there are provided an alkali primary battery comprising a cathode current collector, a cathode active material and an electrolytic solution, a separator that permits passage of an ion but does not permit passage of an electron, an anode active material and an electrolytic solution, and an anode current collector which are placed in this order, wherein metal carbide or a mixture of metal carbide and the metal is used as the anode active material, and an alkali secondary battery comprising a cathode current collector, a cathode active material and an electrolytic solution, a separator that permits passage of an ion but does not permit passage of an electron, an anode active material and an electrolytic solution, and an anode current collector which are placed in this order, wherein metal carbide or a mixture of metal carbide and the metal is used as the anode active material.
In the alkali primary battery and the alkali secondary battery of the fourth invention, since carbon is a good conductor of electricity, preferable electricity conductivity can be ensured, and degradation of a discharging characteristic (reduction of a discharge voltage) can be suppressed even if metal of the anode active material is chemically changed into oxide or hydroxide. By a simple method that uses metal carbide or the mixture of the metal carbide and this metal as the anode active material, expensive conduction promoter such as high-purity carbon and a special treatment for adding conductivity to the anode become unnecessary and a production cost can be suppressed.
It is preferable that the cathode active material and the anode active material would be powdered. The reason is that since the battery structure becomes three-dimensional, the scale up results in advantages (scale up reduces a production cost), the degraded active material can be recovered and replaced, and heat transmitters can be provided in the battery, the operation according to the battery characteristic becomes possible and the energy power generation efficiency can be improved. In addition, the surface area is increased and the energy density is increased.
Furthermore, it is preferable that the iron carbide is used as the metal carbide. The metal carbide is an inexpensive material. As disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei. 9-48604 filed by the applicant, the iron carbide is produced in such a manner that iron-containing material is partially reduced using a reducing gas, and then the partially reduced material is further reduced and carburized using reducing and carburizing gases. This method is particularly preferable because the iron carbide can be produced promptly and economically.
To achieve the fifth objective, there is provided a locally-distributed power generation method of the fifth invention that connects a battery mounted in transfer and transport means to an inverter installed in a house or an office to allow a load in the house or the office to use a power generated by an electric generator of the transfer and transport means when the transfer and transport means is not moving, the transfer and transport means including any of a power-driven two-wheeled vehicle, a power-driven three-wheeled vehicle, a power-driven four-wheeled vehicle and ship in which a device that uses an engine such as a gasoline engine, a diesel engine, and a gas turbine to activate the electric generator to generate a power and the battery for storing the generated power are mounted, to travel by the engine and a power of an electric motor driven by the power from the battery, thereby utilizing the transfer and transport means which is not moving as fixed power generation equipment for the house or the office.
In the method of the fifth invention, transfer and transport means in which a device for generating a power using a fuel battery and a battery for storing the power are mounted may be used, instead of the transfer and transport means in which the device that uses the engine to activate the electric generator to generate the power and the battery for storing the power are mounted.
In the method of the fifth invention, at least one of solar power generation equipment and wind power generation equipment may be installed in the house or the office, the battery mounted in the transfer and transport means which is not moving may be connected to a fixed battery for storing a power generated in the equipment to charge the fixed battery, and the power from the fixed battery may be converted into an alternating current and its voltage may be adjusted by a inverter, to be used in the load in the house or the office.
In this case, the power generated in at least one of the solar power generation equipment and the wind power generation equipment may be used to charge the battery of the transfer and transport means which is not moving.
It is preferable that, in the method of the fifth invention, high temperature substances or/and low-temperature substances generated in the transfer and transport means which is not moving may be supplied to the house or the office to perform cogeneration.
In the method of the fifth invention, a silencer may be provided outerly on the transfer and transport means to reduce an emission sound of the engine when the engine is used to activate the electric generator to supply the power to the house or the office while the transfer and transport means including any of the power-driven two-wheeled vehicle, the power-driven three-wheeled vehicle, and the power-driven four-wheeled vehicle is not moving.
It is preferable in the method of the fifth invention, to use a battery of a three-dimensional structure, comprising two vessels connected with a member interposed therebetween that permits passage of an ion but does not permit passage of an electron, a powdered active material filled in one of the vessels and suspended in an electrolytic solution in the one vessel to discharge the electron, and a powdered active material filled in the other vessel and suspended in an electrolytic solution in the other vessel to absorb the electron, wherein conductive current collectors in contact with the powdered active materials are provided in the two vessels. This is because if part or all of the degraded powdered active materials are discarded, the degraded powdered materials are recovered, and new powdered materials as much as the discarded powdered materials are supplied into the vessels, charge can be immediately started.
To achieve the fifth objective, there is provided a locally-distributed power generation device of the fifth invention, comprising: transfer and transport means including any of a power-driven two-wheeled vehicle, a power-driven three-wheeled vehicle, a power-driven four-wheeled vehicle and ship that travels by an engine and by a power of an electric motor driven by a power from a battery, in which a device that uses an engine such as a gasoline engine, diesel engine, and a gas turbine engine to activate an electric generator to generate a power and a battery for storing the generated power are mounted; an inverter installed in a house or an office to supply an AC and voltage-adjusted power to each load of the house or the office; and a connector that connects the battery mounted in the transfer and transport means which is not moving to the inverter installed in the house or the office, wherein the power generated by the electric generator of the transfer and transport means is used in the load of the house or the office.
In the device of the fifth invention, as the transfer and transport means, transfer and transport means in which a device for generating a power using a fuel battery and a battery for storing the generated power are mounted may be used.
In the device of the fifth invention, at least one of solar power generation equipment and wind power generation equipment may be installed in the house or the office, a power generated in the equipment may be stored in a fixed battery and may be supplied to the load via an inverter connected to the fixed battery, a battery mounted in the transfer and transport means which is not moving may be connected to the fixed battery by means of a connector to allow the power generated by the electric generator of the transfer and transport means, to be supplied to the fixed battery.
In this case, the power may be supplied from the fixed battery in which the power generated in at least one of the solar power generation equipment and the wind power generation equipment is stored to the battery of the transfer and transport means which is not moving.
It is preferable that in the device of the fifth invention, a heat source of the transfer and transport means would be adapted to communicate with the house or the office via a duct to allow high-temperature substances or/and low-temperature substances generated in the transfer and transport means which is not moving to be supplied to the house or the office, thereby constructing a cogeneration system.
It is preferable, in the device of the fifth invention, to use a battery of a three-dimensional structure comprising two vessels connected with a member interposed therebetween that permits passage of an ion but does not permit passage of an electron, a powdered active material filled in one of the vessels and suspended in an electrolytic solution in the one vessel to discharge an electron, and a powdered active material filled in the other vessel and suspended in an electrolytic solution in the other vessel to absorb the electron, wherein conductive current collectors in contact with the powdered active materials are provided in the two vessels. This is because if part or all of the degraded powdered active materials are discarded, the degraded powdered material are recovered, and new powdered materials as much as the discarded powdered material are supplied into the vessels, then charge can be immediately started.
The present invention is constituted as described above and the following effects are provided.
(1) Since the battery is structured to have powdered active materials put in the vessels, it has a three-dimensional structure and can be scaled up. By creating the battery using the powdered active materials, the scale up advantageously reduces the production cost.
(2) When the powdered active material and catalyst are degraded, they are discharged and recovered or replaced by new active materials and catalyst. Or otherwise, they are re-charged by thermal reaction or chemical reaction to be re-supplied. Thereby, since the active material and catalyst are always kept in best condition, the life of the battery, and hence the life of the battery equipment can be significantly prolonged.
(3) By utilizing a battery characteristic in which a heat transmitter can be provided, the heat transmitter provided in the battery can keep reaction temperature in the battery constant, and power conversion efficiency is reduced with an increase in temperature, whereas a reaction speed is reduced with a decrease in temperature, the temperature in the battery can be appropriately adjusted. Besides, since the collected high-temperature substances and low-temperature substances can be utilized for air-conditioning or power generation, energy generation efficiency and energy usage efficiency can be increased.
(4) Since the battery is created by using the powdered active materials, the surface area of the reacting material is increased and the energy density is significantly increased.
(5) Since at least one of fluid fluidizing and dispersing means and agitating means using a liquid or a gas for fluidizing the powdered active materials in the electrolytic solutions in the two vessels may be connected to the two vessels or provided in the two vessels to provide efficient contact between the powdered active materials and between the powdered active materials and the current collectors. With this constitution, efficiency of contact between the active materials is improved, contact resistance is reduced because of preferable contact between the powdered active materials and the current collectors, and conductivity between the active materials and the current collectors or between the active materials is increased, and the ion dispersion speed in the electrolytic solution is increased. Consequently, a large current flows and a large power can be obtained as compared to the battery comprising the unfluidized powdered active materials.
(1) Since the capacity (power) of the battery can be in creased by increasing the capacities of the respective cells of a pair of cells, the scale up results in advantages in the production cost. The voltage is determined depending on the type (material) of the powdered active materials filled in the pair of cells. It is necessary to connect a plurality of unit batteries in series when a large voltage is required. Since the current collecting members on the anode side and the cathode side of the unit battery are made of the same material, and anode and cathode electrodes are not formed unlike the conventional battery, separating walls defining the pair of cells (unit battery) may be constituted by the conductive current collecting members. Thereby, the batteries can be connected in series structurally and electrically and the thickness thereof can be made small. As a result, the whole battery can be made compact and small-sized. In addition since the current flows in the thickness direction, a large current flows with little resistance.
The powdered active materials function as a membrane (battery body) of the conventional battery of the membrane structure and the current flowing in the battery is directly proportional to the surface area of the active materials. The powdered materials are suspended in the electrolytic solutions and the total surface area of the total powdered materials is several thousands to several tens thousands times as large as that of the conventional battery of the membrane structure. So, the energy density is made several thousands to several ten thousands higher. Also, th e powdered active materials are mixed in and suspended in the electrolytic solutions (dilute sulfuric acid for lead storage battery). When the powdered active materials are degraded, the powdered active materials together with the electrolytic solutions can be changed and the powdered active materials can be recovered. Consequently, the life of the battery can be significantly prolonged.
(2) By providing agitating means for fluidizing the powdered materials suspended in the electrolytic solutions in the respective cells to agitate the powdered materials in the electrolytic solutions, the powdered materials as electrodes are prevented from falling down due to its weight, and diffused in the electrolytic solutions. As a result, contact efficiency between powdered materials is improved and preferable contact between the powdered materials and the current collecting members or the current collectors is obtained, resulting in reduced contact resistance and an increased power. Further, width of each cell (spacing in the series direction) is increased and the capacity of the battery can be increased.
(3) By providing conductive studs integrally with and protrusively from the current collectors or the current collecting members toward the inside of the cell, the contact areas of the current collecting members and the powdered materials or the contact areas of the current collectors and the powdered materials are significantly increased and contact resistance is reduced. Therefore, the width of each cell (spacing in the series direction) can be increased and the capacity of the battery can be significantly increased.
(4) By addition of the function to stop fluidization of the powdered materials to the agitating means to reduce the amount of power supplied from the battery, the fluidization of the powdered materials can be arbitrarily stopped, resulting in a reduced amount of the power from the battery.
(1) It is possible to provide practical and effective use of the three-dimensional battery as part of various equipment or devices. Specifically, by adding the function of the chargeable/dischargeable power storage equipment in addition to the original function of the equipment or device, a free space is utilized to store a large power and the power storage efficiency can be greatly increased. Further, the absorbed/released heat associated with the battery reaction can be utilized for air-conditioning, or heating, cooling or the like of the materials.
(2) In the three-dimensional battery comprising two vessels provided with conductive current collectors in contact with the powdered active materials suspended in the electrolytic solutions, at least one of fluid fluidizing and dispersing means and agitating means using a liquid or a gas for fluidizing the powdered active materials in the electrolytic solutions in the two vessels may be connected to the two vessels or provided in the two vessels. Thereby, preferable contact between the powdered active materials and the current collectors is provided and contact resistance is thereby reduced, resulting in improved conductivity and increased ion diffusion speed in the electrolytic solutions. Consequently, a large current flows and a large power can be stored.
(3) Furthermore, the power stored in the three-dimensional battery is conveyed by power conveying means to be utilized as rotation power of rotary equipment, power of a mobile body, or photo energy, kinetic energy or heat energy.
(1) Without adding expensive conduction promoter such as high-purity carbon to the anode active materials and a special treatment for adding conductivity to the anode, it is possible to provide the alkali primary battery and the alkali secondary battery which have discharge voltages less likely to be reduced, have long lives, and are produced at a low cost.
(2) When the cathode active material and the anode active material are powdered, the battery structure becomes three-dimensional, the scale up results in advantages (scale up reduces a production cost), the degraded active material can be recovered and replaced, and heat transmitters can be provided in the battery. Therefore, the operation according to the electric characteristic becomes possible and the energy power generation efficiency can be improved. In addition, the surface area is increased and the energy density is increased.
(3) Iron carbide as metal carbide is inexpensive and is particularly preferable as the anode active material.
(1) By utilizing a power generation system provided in automobile or the like originally used as transfer and transport means for houses or offices, the equipment cost can be significantly reduced and cogeneration can be carried out without the power generation equipment in the houses or the offices.
(2) Since the power generation equipment cost is significantly reduced and the power generation equipment is economical, the locally-distributed cogeneration equipment can be generalized.
(3) Since the locally-distributed cogeneration equipment becomes inexpensive and is generalized, the effective use of the energy is facilitated. As a result, economical effect is obtained and generation of carbon dioxide can be reduced.
(4) In particular, since the battery mounted in the transfer means and transport means and the battery fixed to the houses or the offices are constituted by the battery comprising the powdered active materials on the cathode side and the anode side, part or all of degraded powdered active materials are discarded, the degraded powdered materials are recovered, and new powdered materials equal in amount to the discarded powdered materials are supplied. As a result, charge can be started immediately.